Cadmium is increasingly finding its way into our environment through our highly industrialized society. The cumulative nature of the low amounts found in the environment pose a potential threat to human health. An important problem is that of interaction of drugs which are taken intentionally for therapeutic purposes with the cadmium burden. The continuing year of the project aims to further elucidate the mechanism of drug potentiation by Cd established during the first year. Studies will be conducted to determine the influence of Cd on liver drug metabolism at several levels of cellular organization (liver perfusion, whole homogenate, microsomal), as well as to study the effects of Cd on drug effects in hepatectomized animals.